Windmills have been used for many generations for the purpose of pumping water from the ground and for generating electricity. A basic advantage of the windmill is that it uses the power of atmospheric wind to rotate a wheel having radially extending blades. This rotary movement may be converted into various useful purposes. For example, wind turbines in the form of propellers mounted on towers have been placed in areas where steady winds are prevalent and the wind turbines are used to generate electricity.
The blades of the conventional wind turbines are very large and made of expensive rigid material and are constructed to have the blades extend radially from a central hub, with no extra support at the outer tips of the blades. The conventional wind turbine blades rotate at a high rate of revolutions and must withstand both the centrifugal forces generated by the fast revolution of the blades and the cantilever bending forces applied to the blades by the wind. Since the outer portions of the blades move at a very high velocity and are engaged by strong winds, the larger the blades the stronger they must be and the more expensive they become. Thus, there is a practical limit as to the length and width of the blades.
Another type of wind turbine is one that has sail wings constructed of fabric that are a substitute for the rigid blades of the conventional wind turbines described above. For example U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,330,714, 4,350,895, and 4,729,716 disclose wind turbines that use cloth “sails” that catch the wind. The blades of the wind turbine are formed of lighter weight material.
Another wind turbine type has rigid propellers that appear to be rigidly mounted to circular perimeter rims that support the outer ends of the propellers, as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,233,232 and 6,064,123.
Some of the wind turbines of the patents cited above are constructed with an outer rim that extends circumferentially about the turbine wheel. Rubber tires are placed in positions to engage the outer rim so as to rotate the rubber tires, with the driven rubber tires rotating the rotor of a generator. Thus, the rotation of the wind turbine is used to generate electricity. Other designs are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,109,727, 7,825,532, 8,134,251, 8,164,212, 8,178,993, 8,487,471, 8,174,142, 8,258,645, 8,373,298, 8,466,577 and United States Patent Application Publications 2014/40271183 and 2014/0265344, all incorporated by reference.
Prior art wind turbines are mounted on upright towers and the towers are supported at their bases by mounting the towers in the earth or on some other stable platform. When the wind turbine is in operation with an oncoming brisk wind engaging the angled blades of the turbine wheel, a significant longitudinal force is transmitted from the blades of the turbine wheel to the upper portion of the tower, tending to tip the tower. This horizontal tipping force usually is significantly greater than the circumferential wind force engaging the angled surfaces of the blades of the turbine wheel and causing the rotation of the turbine wheel. This longitudinal force requires the tower for a wind turbine to be very strong to avoid tipping over.
While wind turbines have found use in open land areas where steady winds are prevalent, the land areas most suitable for catching the wind on wind turbine propeller blades usually are remote from the areas of great need of electrical power. Therefore, there is a requirement that electrical power be transmitted through conductive cables for long distances to the areas of need.
Winds generated over large bodies of water, particularly over an ocean, are not confronted with mountains, buildings, and the vegetation of the land masses that tend to slow the velocity of winds. The turbulence of wind usually is less over water than over land. This may be because there is a greater temperature variance between different altitudes over land than over a body of water, apparently because sunlight is absorbed further into water than into land, and for comparable conditions, the surfaces of land become warmer and radiate more heat than the surfaces of water.
Also, some of the largest cities of the world are positioned adjacent large bodies of water such as oceans and seas where wind velocities are not slowed and are less turbulent near the water surface and are more predictable. Therefore, there can be some advantages to placement of a wind turbine being placed in a large body of water. This, however, does not come without challenges. One challenge is how to anchor the wind turbine so that it does not drift across the water. Several attempts have been made to provide in-water anchor systems such as U.S. Pat. No. 8,118,538 that discloses a wind turbine platform that can be semi-submersible with the wind turbine extending out of the water and with a counterbalance extending below the platform. The platform can float on the water's surface and can have several arms that extend outwardly from the wind turbine to increase the platform's footprint. To anchor the turbine offshore, anchoring systems can anchor the platform to the seabed while allowing the floating wind turbine to adjust passively or actively to changes in sea level due to tidal variations or storm swells.
United States Patent Application Publication 2013/0152839 discloses a system of floating and weight-stabilized wind turbine towers with separately floodable compartments and aerodynamic overwater encasement and the appertaining semisubmersible mooring structures including anchorage on the seabed, a horizontally floating underwater mooring meshwork and an actinomorphic buoy-cable-mooring to the wind turbine towers. United States Patent Application Publication 2010/0290839 discloses an anchoring system for anchoring an object to a floor of a body of water includes a weighted portion, an explosive charge arrangement on the weighted portion, a movable pole arranged on the weighted portion, and a penetration system that moves the pole downward after initiation of the explosive charge arrangement. United States Patent Application Publication 2009/0092449 is directed to an anchoring device for a floating wind turbine installation. Such a wind turbine installation comprises a floating cell, a tower arranged over the floating cell, a generator mounted on the tower which is rotatable in relation to wind direction and fitted with a wind rotor and an anchor line arrangement connected to anchors or anchoring points on the seabed.
However, none of these devices allows for efficient rotations of the platform supporting the turbine wheel so that the turbine wheel can face the direction of the wind without rotating about a submerged anchor line. Further, the prior art does not disclose a securing anchor support system to be added to an existing anchor.
One of the disadvantages with the increased use of alternative energy systems, such as wind turbines, is the actual or perceived belief that these large spinning structures post a hazard to birds, especially to migratory birds. In fact, in 2013, it was reported that the wind industry is killing a vast number of birds each year. Other commentators have stated that while there is a risk of bird deaths from wind turbines, the risk has been overblown. For example, a study by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that 175 million birds die annually by flying into power lines, 72 million are poisoned annually by herbicides, 6.6 million die annually by flying into communications towers and 1 million die from oil and gas waste pits. By contrast, the Wildlife Society Bulletin estimates that 573,000 birds were killed by wind turbines. Nevertheless, combating this issue of actual or perceived unnecessary bird deaths from wind turbines is a problem that should have some attention. As wind turbines increase in popularity and use, the issue will also increase. Additionally, there has been prosecution of wind energy companies for improperly killing eagles.
There have been some attempts to prevent unnecessary bird deaths through wind turbines including that of U.S. Pat. No. 8,742,977 that discloses a bistatic radar system that detects a bird in a collision path and actuates a deterrent. Deterrents can be flashing strobe lights, intense sound, or air cannon. United States Publication 2013/0101417 discloses wind turbine rotor blades having ultraviolet light-reflective substances in order to prevent bird strikes. U.S. Pat. No. 5,774,088 discloses a hazard warning system radiates pulses of microwave energy in the frequency range of 1 GHz to about 40 GHz to alert and warn target flying birds of the presence of wind turbine electrical generators, power distribution systems, aircraft, and other protected areas from hazardous intrusion. U.S. Pat. No. 9,046,080 discloses instantaneously inflatable mini-airbags on turbine blade leading edges.
Birds are known for very good vision as it is this sense that assists with safe flight. Most birds are tetrachromatic, possessing four types of cone cells each with a distinctive maximal absorption peak. In some birds, the maximal absorption peak of the cone cell responsible for the shortest wavelength extends to the ultraviolet (UV) range, making them UV-sensitive. Birds can also resolve rapid movements better than humans with a flicker threshold of over more than 100 Hz. In humans, when an object is covered by another, the human mind tends to “complete” the covered object and “fills in the blank” to believe that the human is seeing the entire object. This is called scene completion, a trait that is not believed to be present in birds. Birds do, however, possess very good resolving power to see clear and distinct images of very small prey.
Another advantage of wind turbines placed on bodies of water is that the less turbulent winds at the surface of the water allows the turbine wheel to be supported lower, closer to the surface of the water. This tends to reduce the expense of having a tall tower as usually required for land mounted wind turbines.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to locate wind turbines on bodies of water spaced relatively close to a land mass where there is a need for electricity. Also, it would be desirable to produce wind turbines with a means for reducing the longitudinal force applied by the turbine wheel to the tower or other vertical support of the wind turbine.
If would also be advantageous to take advantage of the good vision of birds and construct and arrange a wind turbine with additional visual safety features to allow bird to detect the wind turbine and avoid a collision at the onset.